House Intelligence Committee may vote to release Democratic rebuttal of Nunes memo: report

The House Intelligence Committee will consider whether to declassify a memo authored by Democratic lawmakers that refutes the notorious Republican memo, which alleged FBI and Justice Department misconduct, on Monday afternoon, according to multiple news reports.

The House panel released the Republican memo on Friday after it passed a vote earlier in the week, and days later received approval from the White House. During the vote, lawmakers did not approve of the release of the Democratic memo. But now, the committee will consider releasing it, and it reportedly challenges the contentious GOP document and highlights its shortcomings and other flaws, two sources told Reuters. One source added that the meeting will take place on Monday afternoon at 5 p.m.

Democrats on the committee are expected to make a push for a vote during the Monday meeting, CNN reported.

If the vote to declassify the Democratic rebuttal is approved, it will be up to President Donald Trump to decide if he wants to publicly release the memo or not. Prior to the release of the GOP memo, the White House argued Trump was leaning towards releasing it on the grounds of transparency, which should mean that he wouldn’t have a problem with releasing the Democrats’ version. However, many believe Trump released the memo as a way to justify firing deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and Trump has also said that the memo “vindicates” him in the ongoing Russia probe.

Surprisingly enough, some Republican lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee have seemingly opposed Trump’s assertion that the GOP memo, authored in part by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., exposes FBI abuse and “vindicates” him in any way.